I think that is potentially a season defining win for the Crusaders. That will do so much for the confidence and self belief within the squad.
I'm a bit emotional after watching that game. The words 'brave' and 'courage' are often undeservedly used to describe rugby performances, but I can honestly say that was one of the bravest performances I have ever seen by a Crusaders team. I lost count of who was injured and who was playing where. At one stage just before half time Fotualii, Dagg, Maitland and Adam Whitelock had all been replaced, and Matt Todd appeared on the wing after a Crusaders scrum. Sometimes mass injuries can cause a team to completely lose all cohesion, but occasionally it galvanises them, and inspires the remaining players to play above themselves, and perform above and beyond their usual levels. The latter was the case today. The fit Crusaders players lifted, and as the game went on and they remained in touch with the Stormers, you could sense their levels of self-belief rise.
The Stormers structured style of play didn't allow them to fully take advantage of the mass injuries in the Crusaders backline. The Stormers are top of the South African Conference because they have ground out many tight wins this season, and relied on the best defense in the comp to keep teams out. However this style and gameplan played into the Crusaders' hands. If the Stormers had been able to score a few tries late in the first half or early in the second, heads in the Crusaders camp would have certainly dropped. But with the Stormers attack never fully firing, the bandaged together Crusaders outfit were able to keep themselves in the match. Had todays match turned into a shoot-out, the patch-work Crusaders backline would have been unable to keep up with the Stormers. But it became a scrap, and that suited the under-strength Canterbury based team. The Stormer's inabilty to put teams away when they are uner the pump kept the Crusaders in the game, and ultimately cost them the game.
I thought all the Crusaders who finished the game played very well. And their discipline as a team was sensational, gifting the Stormers few penalties and even fewer within kicking range. Wyatt Crockett will rightly recieve plenty of acclaim for his two tries, but his best work was at scrum time and defensively in general play. He's having his best ever Super Rugby season, and despite his inability to play both sides of the scrum must be close to a recall for the All Blacks. Matt Todd was another standout, and his work at the breakdown and linking play in attack continues to impress. I was also very impressed with Luke Romano. The rookie lock looked good during last year's ITM Cup, but I think he's actually looking even more comfortable at this level. He's effective at the front of the lineout and works hard in all aspects of general play. SBW did some excellent things, and made a few errors, but his offload that led to Crockett's first try and sublime. I've been especially pleased with his defensive work over the past fortnight.
Hard to be too critical of the Crusaders after such a gutsy win, but there were still some areas of concern. Why Berquist continually tried to run the ball himself from deep within his own half early in the game, when a kick would have been the smarter and safer option, baffled me. Equally, how many times did they put pressure on themselves through quick lineout throw ins? I know Bekker is a dominant lineout operator, but the Crusaders could have conceded a couple of tries through turnovers which resulted from quick throw ins. Especially when their lineout actually functioned quite effectively when they threw it in conventionally. I think this was an example of Bekker getting inside the heads of the Crusaders, and I hope Blackadder urges his troops to settle down at lineout time next week against the Cheetahs. Still not happy with the Crusaders control of the tempo of games, but with so many injured players I'm absolutely delighted with any win against the Stormers.
By the way, I think special credit must go to Todd Blackadder and his staff for keeping his team together this evening. A lesser coach's team could have completely fallen apart with such a horrendus first half injury toll.